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Ptolemy and The Almagest

The Complete History of Science

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The Complexity of Ptolemy's Models

Ptolemy's lunar theory was largely derived from Hipparchus. It was essentially an epicycle deferent model, placed off centre from the Earth. Ptolemy also observed there was an additional anomaly in the Moon's motion. While the Moon's position was well predicted at Scissorgy, there was a discrepancy when they were in other configurations. By this point however, as you probably noticed, the Arma just lunar theories had become head-spinningly complex.

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